Years ago, when I used to be in the Joomla team as a development group member, I came across a Joomla-powered website launched by the Iranian government to dox people who participated in the green movement protests against the theocratic regime. I remember how sick I felt in the stomach and how appalled I was. Here I was volunteering my programming skills and code for a good cause only to see some of the worst people in the world use our code for despicable purposes. That's when I learned a lesson about the dark side of open-source software; that everyone, even the bad guys, can download and use it.

After launching the Anahita project and community, I figured that it would only be a matter of time for the wrong people to start using our code. This week, I was saddened to find out that at least one Anahita installation out there has been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories as a "Free Speech" platform. Fortunately, their site is currently down.

During the last year, many mainstream social media platforms have been removing misinformation and banning people, influencers, and institutions who have been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines, false claims about an election, PizzaGate, along with others. Cloud and web services companies such as Amazon and Twilio and mobile app platforms such as Apple and Google joined in to ban these "Free Speech" platforms. These days it is incredibly challenging and expensive to launch any web or mobile applications without using scalable cloud and web services. It makes sense that these misinformation advocates are looking into an open-source alternative to build their platforms, and we have been getting a share of them in our inbox. 

People behind that Free Speech website are no longer part of the Anahita tribes. We removed their accounts and banned them for good! Unfortunately, we can't stop them from downloading our code on Github because that goes against the concept of open-source software. Still, we can deny them support and membership in our community. 

I have dedicated my life and career to developing software for science and healthcare through my founded company, https://www.rmdStudio.com Anahita was born as a knowledge platform for scientists, educators, researchers, and students. We've been fortunate to work with some of the most hardworking and dedicated scientists and researchers in Canada, the US, and Europe. We are pro-science, pro-vaccine, and in favour of evidence-based and progressive social and environmental policies. 

If you intend to use our fruit of labour to build your platforms that amplify misinformation and alternative facts, you aren't welcome in our community. We don't want you here, and we make sure that you don't benefit from our time, knowledge, and support. 

#Anahita

Years ago, when I used to be in the Joomla team as a development group member, I came across a Joomla-powered website launched by the Iranian government to dox people who participated in the green movement protests against the theocratic regime. I remember how sick I felt in the stomach and how appalled I was. Here I was volunteering my programming skills and code for a good cause only to see some of the worst people in the world use our code for despicable purposes. That's when I learned a lesson about the dark side of open-source software; that everyone, even the bad guys, can download and use it.

After launching the Anahita project and community, I figured that it would only be a matter of time for the wrong people to start using our code. This week, I was saddened to find out that at least one Anahita installation out there has been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories as a "Free Speech" platform. Fortunately, their site is currently down.

During the last year, many mainstream social media platforms have been removing misinformation and banning people, influencers, and institutions who have been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines, false claims about an election, PizzaGate, along with others. Cloud and web services companies such as Amazon and Twilio and mobile app platforms such as Apple and Google joined in to ban these "Free Speech" platforms. These days it is incredibly challenging and expensive to launch any web or mobile applications without using scalable cloud and web services. It makes sense that these misinformation advocates are looking into an open-source alternative to build their platforms, and we have been getting a share of them in our inbox. 

People behind that Free Speech website are no longer part of the Anahita tribes. We removed their accounts and banned them for good! Unfortunately, we can't stop them from downloading our code on Github because that goes against the concept of open-source software. Still, we can deny them support and membership in our community. 

I have dedicated my life and career to developing software for science and healthcare through my founded company, https://www.rmdStudio.com Anahita was born as a knowledge platform for scientists, educators, researchers, and students. We've been fortunate to work with some of the most hardworking and dedicated scientists and researchers in Canada, the US, and Europe. We are pro-science, pro-vaccine, and in favour of evidence-based and progressive social and environmental policies. 

If you intend to use our fruit of labour to build your platforms that amplify misinformation and alternative facts, you aren't welcome in our community. We don't want you here, and we make sure that you don't benefit from our time, knowledge, and support. 

#Anahita

Years ago, when I used to be in the Joomla team as a development group member, I came across a Joomla-powered website launched by the Iranian government to dox people who participated in the green movement protests against the theocratic regime. I remember how sick I felt in the stomach and how appalled I was. Here I was volunteering my programming skills and code for a good cause only to see some of the worst people in the world use our code for despicable purposes. That's when I learned a lesson about the dark side of open-source software; that everyone, even the bad guys, can download and use it.

After launching the Anahita project and community, I figured that it would only be a matter of time for the wrong people to start using our code. This week, I was saddened to find out that at least one Anahita installation out there has been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories as a "Free Speech" platform. Fortunately, their site is currently down.

During the last year, many mainstream social media platforms have been removing misinformation and banning people, influencers, and institutions who have been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines, false claims about an election, PizzaGate, along with others. Cloud and web services companies such as Amazon and Twilio and mobile app platforms such as Apple and Google joined in to ban these "Free Speech" platforms. These days it is incredibly challenging and expensive to launch any web or mobile applications without using scalable cloud and web services. It makes sense that these misinformation advocates are looking into an open-source alternative to build their platforms, and we have been getting a share of them in our inbox. 

People behind that Free Speech website are no longer part of the Anahita tribes. We removed their accounts and banned them for good! Unfortunately, we can't stop them from downloading our code on Github because that goes against the concept of open-source software. Still, we can deny them support and membership in our community. 

I have dedicated my life and career to developing software for science and healthcare through my founded company, https://www.rmdStudio.com Anahita was born as a knowledge platform for scientists, educators, researchers, and students. We've been fortunate to work with some of the most hardworking and dedicated scientists and researchers in Canada, the US, and Europe. We are pro-science, pro-vaccine, and in favour of evidence-based and progressive social and environmental policies. 

If you intend to use our fruit of labour to build your platforms that amplify misinformation and alternative facts, you aren't welcome in our community. We don't want you here, and we make sure that you don't benefit from our time, knowledge, and support. 

#Anahita

We tagged the 4.5.0 release yesterday. What's significant about this release is the improved JSON REST APIs for essential operations such as signup, authentication, password recovery, Actor profile settings, and Site Settings.

As you know, Anahita has been moving towards a Client-Server architecture. We are developing a client-side React application for Anahita. We are already using stable variations of this app in public and private platforms that we have implemented for our clients. We are also developing an open-source version of the Anahita React app for our community.

How to upgrade

If you are using the code in the master branch, do a git pull to obtain the latest code. If you are using a stable version of the Anahita, go straight to typing the following commands in the root of your Anahita installations: 

$ composer update

$ php anahita site:configuration

Then using vim or an editor of your choice, edit the configuration.php file in the www directory, and set:

var $client_domain = "https://www.yourappsdomain.com";

Now save and quit the editor.

To be sure, run the database migration command just in case if there are any migrations left in your upgrade that you need to run:

$ php anahita db:migrate:up

Now test your Anahita installation and make sure if everything is working.

Need Support

If you had difficulty upgrading or had any questions, please start a topic on our support group:  https://www.getanahita.com/groups/107732-tribe-support

We also offer paid support through our company, and you can contact us here: https://www.rmdstudio.com/contact 

Want to help?

Follow the Anahita Project group to help us out or work on your own Anahita project alongside: https://www.getanahita.com/groups/42242-anahita-project

Next release's focus

One of the most fundamental changes in Anahita architecture will be happening in the 4.6.0 release we will:

1. Finish implementing version 1.0.0 of the Anahita React app and start using it for our live site.

2. Reduce the Anahita PHP codebase into an application that provides RESTful APIs only. We will accomplish that by removing the following components and libraries:

• All the components' HTML views
• Language package manager and language support because localization is now happening on the client-side.
• All the UI libraries
• All the content plugins because their functionality is now happening on the client-side.
• The Pages component, because a similar Component in the Anahita React will provide static content pages.
• Ideally, use JSON as the default output rather than HTML.
• Provide Markdown Support rather than HTML in the editors where formatted text is desirable. 

Those are significant changes in one release, but at this point, we would like to implement new features in Anahita or improve some of the existing ones, such as the user onboarding workflow. The current legacy HTML views are getting in our way, and it is time to move on to the new Architecture. We expect that the Anahita 4.6.0 will be smaller, less complex, and faster than the previous releases. This code reduction is going to be so much fun!

Photo by Nidhi Shah from Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-jellyfish-in-water-3616252/

#Anahita #BirthRelease #REST #API #Announcement

We have just tagged the 4.4.4 Birth release. This version comes with improved REST API for Site Settings and Actor Settings. We have also fixed several bugs.

We have been busy working on the Anahita React app and, through this process, improving the REST APIs in Anahita. 

How to upgrade

If your installation is from the master branch:

$ git pull

$ php anahita db:migrate:up

else, if your installation is from the latest stable release:

$ composer update

$ php anahita db:migrate:up

If you have any issues through the upgrade, please start a topic in the Tribe Support group so we can help you out: https://www.getanahita.com/groups/107732-tribe-support

#Anahita #BirthRelease